Floor covering mechanic&#39;s tool



H JERAND 2,776,493

5 Sheets-Sheet l a 4 R ,y, 3M m 5 mm M Va m 4 X -m\ J 7 A d a E w 0 m w% I 1 H z 5 z w/ a a v 4 FLOOR COVERING MECHANICS TOOL.

Jan. 8, 1957 Filed Aug. 3, .1955

Jan. 8, 1957 JERAND 2,776,493

FLOOR COVERING MECHANICS TOOL Filed Aug. 5, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 F'IE'I E FIE E INVENTOR. Hare/0 L. Jena/7d Jan. 8, 1957 H. L. JERAND FLOOR COVERING MECHANICS TOOL 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 5, 1953 INVENTOR. Y H.L../erar70 ATTORNEYS' United States Patent FLOOR COVERING MECHANICS TOOL Harold L. Jerand, Napa, Calif.

Application August 3, 1953, Serial No. 371,976

3 Claims. (Cl. 33-174) This invention relates generally to tools which are used by floor covering mechanics and more particularly to tools of this type which facilitate the cutting of corners in floor covering material.

In covering floors with materials such as linoleum, asphalt and rubber tile, the floor covering mechanic must cut the floor covering material so that it will fit properly into the corners. Conventionally, the mechanic merely used a straight edge to guide his knife as he was cutting the material. In using this method, it is very diflicult to get a good fit at the corners because of the difficulty in estimating the angles. v

The difiiculty of making perfect corners arises particularly in the installation of feature strips and cove bases. For example, in cutting miters in feature strips, it is difficult to keep the feature strips from slipping while they are being out. In making cove base corners it is particularly difiicult to cutthe material with the proper angles and curves. v

In general it is an object of the present invention to provide a tool which can be used to facilitate accurate cutting of corners in floor covering material to eliminate the above mentioned difliculties.

Another object of this invention is to provide a tool to facilitate making inside corners in cove bases.

Another object of this invention is to provide a tool to facilitate the forming of miters in feature strips.

A further object of this invention is to provide a single tool which facilitates the making of inside corners in cove bases and the forming of miters in feature strips.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following .description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation view of the tool constituting my invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of this tool taken along the line 22 of Figure l. t

Figure 3 is a plan view of a room with a typical floor covering installed which incorporates the use of a feature strip and a cove base. 7 p p Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figures 5A and 5B are views showingthe placement of the tool constituting my invention in cutting corner edges in cove material.

Figure 6 is a view showing the corner edges after they have been cut in the cove material.

Figure 7 is an isometric view of a corner of a room after the corner edges shown in Figure 6 have been installed.

Figure 8 shows the placement of the tool constituting my invention in cutting miters in feature strips.

Figure 9 illustrates two feature strips after a miter has been cut in one of them.

The embodiment of my device shown in the drawing consists of a flat plate 10 which is provided with means 2,776,49 lcfi Patented Jan. 3, 1957 for facilitating cutting of inside corners in cove bases and means for facilitating cutting feature strip miters.

The means for facilitating cutting inside corners in cove bases consists of an edge 11, having three portions 11a, 11b and 11a. Portion 11a extends rectilinearly for a substantial distance parallel to the axis of symmetry Y-Y of the plate 10. Portion 11c inclines rectilinearly with respect to portion 11a, and forms an obtuse angle of 135 with respect to portion 11a. Portions 11a and 11c are joined by the curved portion 11b.

The plate 10 is also bounded by edges 12 and 13. Edge 12 extends rectilinearly for a substantial distance parallel to the axis Y Y and forms an acute angle of 45 with respect to portion 110 of edge 11. Edge 13 extends rectilinearly perpendicular to the axis YY and forms angles of with respect to portion 11a of edge 11 and edge 12.

The plate 10 may be of any suitable size and material. One size found to be satisfactory had sides where edge 12 was 10 inches long and edge 13 was 4 inches long. Aluminum plate /8 of an inch in thickness has been found to be a suitable material.

The top portion of edge 12 and the portion 11a of edge 11 can be provided with scales having suitable graduations such as inches. Both sides of the fiat plate 10 are provided with identical scales.

The means for facilitating the cutting of miters in feature strips consists of a pair of abutment shoulders 16 and 17 which extend rectilinearly for a substantial distance and are provided on one side of the flat plate 10. These shoulders are formed symmetrically about the axis Y-Y and form acute angles of 30 with respect to this axis. They can be formed or mounted on the plate 10 in any suitable manner such as by stamping, welding or by fastening them with screws or rivets. For example, I have found it satisfactory to merely cut the plate 10 and to bend the plate to form the shoulders 16 and 17 as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

A V 18 is cut into the upper portion of the plate 10 in such a manner that the axis YY bisects the acute angle formed by the edges 21 and 22 of the V 18.

When using the tool hereinbefore described to cut corner edges in cove material 25, it is used as follows: Assuming that the field 26 has already been laid and that the floor covering mechanic now wishes to lay the cove base, the mechanic first places a cove stick 27 along the walls and touching the floor of the room. A cove cap 28 is then placed at a proper height along the walls above the cove stick 27 after the mechanic has deter mined how wide his cove base is going to be. For instance, in one case the width of the cove base might be 6 /2". This is the distance along the cove base between X-X in Figure 4.

After the cove cap 28 has been put in place, the me chanic measures the distance from the cap to the cove stick 27 which is the distance between ZZ in Figure 4. For example, this could be 3". The mechanic then takes the tool and places it on the cove material as shown in Figure 5A with the 3" mark on edge 11 at the top of the cove material. He squares the tool by checking to see that the scales on the edges 11 and 12 are exactly in the same position with respect to the top edge of the cove material.

After the tool has been squared with the cove material, the mechanic holds the tool firmly in place and cuts'the cove material along the edge 11. Normally, this cutting is accomplished by making a finished cut from the top edge of the cove material to the stopping point 29 and a rough cut from this point to the bottom of the cove material as shown in Figure 5A.

After one corner edge has been completed, the tool is turned over and squared on the cove material as shown in Figure B so that both of the 3" marks are again at the top of the cove material. The same method is used in cutting this corner edge except that the cove material is accurately cut all along the edge 11. To secure a neater fit, the mechanic may desire to bevel the edge of this corner edge by holding the knife at an angle of 60 from the vertical.

The two completed corner edges are shown in Figure 6. These two corner edges are then assembled as shown in Figure 7. First the top portions of the edges are fastened to the wall and then to get an exact fit on the bottom portion of the corner, the portion of the edge which has been roughly cut, is cut to fit exactly with the other edge by using it as a guide for the knife. By using this method in conjunction with my tool, it is possible to obtain perfectly fitting corners in cove bases.

When it is desired to cut miters in feature strips, my tool may be used as follows: Assuming that the inner portion 26a of the field 26 has been laid and that the feature strips 31 and 32 have also been laid, but that they have not been joined at the corners, the mechanic will wish to cut miters in the strips 31 and 32. He does this by taking my tool, and depending upon which feature strip he has picked, firmly places either abutment shoulder 16 or 17 against the inside edge of the feature strip. Assuming that he has picked feature strip 31, he would place abutment shoulder 16 against the edge of the feature strip 31 in a position so that the edge 21 of the V 18 would allow the cutting of the feature strip 31 to form a 45 miter at the corner as shown in Figure 8.

After my tool has been properly positioned, the tool is held firmly in place to hold the feature strip 31 and then the mechanic cuts along the line formed by the edge 21. It should be noted that the abutment shoulder 16 is of less height than the thickness of the feature strip so that the feature strip will be held in place by the tool when the tool is pressed down upon it.

After the mechanic has completed cutting a miter in one feature strip, the other feature strip is cut by using the feature strip which has been mitered as a guide as shown in Figure 9. This insures a perfect fit.

The mechanic can cut the first miter in either feature strip merely by using the abutment shoulder 16 or 17. For example, feature strip 32 could be mitered as shown in Figure 8 instead of feature strip 31.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that I have provided a tool which will be of great use to a mechanic when he is laying floor coverings of linoleum, asphalt and rubber tile, and the like. saving of time in laying floor coverings and at the same time helps to improve the workmanship of the mechanic.

I claim:

1. In a tool adapted to be used as a template by floor covering mechanics in cutting inside corners in substantially flat pieces of bendable floor covering material to form a cove base, said pieces having upper and lower straight edges, the tool comprising a substantially fiat plate, said plate having one straight edge extending for a substantial distance parallel to the longitudinal axis of symmetry of said plate, a second edge having three portions, the first portion being straight and extending for a substantial distance parallel to the first named edge, a

This tool makes possible the second portion inclined to'an angle of with respect to said first named edge and meeting said first named edge to form a point, and a third curved portion joining said first and second portions, and a plurality of equally spaced graduations on said plate adjacent said first named edge and the straight portion of said second edge, said grauations being in registration with lines perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of symmetry of said plate whereby when said graduations are aligned with the upper edge of one of said fiat pieces of material said tool will be squared with respect to said piece of floor covering material.

2. A tool as in claim 1 together with a pair of abutment shoulders formed in said plate and extending a substantial distance along the surface of said plate, said shoulders being spaced symmetrically about the longitudinal axis of symmetry of said plate to form angles of 30 with respect to said axis, and a V cut in said plate, said V having edges symmetrically spaced about said axis, each of said edges forming an angle of 15 with respect to said axis, said shoulders being of a height less than the thickness of said feature strips to facilitate retention of the feature strips while they are being cut.

3. In a tool adapted to be used as a template by floor covering mechanics in cutting miters in feature strips, the feature strips having straight and parallel upper and lower edges, the tool comprising a flat plate, a pair of abutment shoulders formed on said plate and extending a substantial distance along the surface of said plate, said shoulders being spaced symmetrically about the longitudinal axis of symmetry of said plate to form angles of 30 with respect to said axis, and a V out in said plate, said V having edges symmetrically spaced about said axis, each of said edges forming an angle of 15 with respect to said axis, said shoulders being of a height less than the thickness of said feature strip to facilitate retention of said feature strips while they are being cut.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 223,543 Riley Jan. 13, 1880 700,023 Duby May 13, 1902 798,818 Morris Sept. 5, 1905 821,959 Oxnam May 29, 1906 904,003 Naldrett Nov. 11, 1908 934,260 Allison Sept. 14, 1909 1,059,513 Zumwalt Apr. 22, 1913 1,187,335 Kinley June 13, 1916 1,360,779 Nelson Nov. 30, 1920 1,524,059 Scott .Tan. 27, 1925 1,803,004 Carter Apr. 28, 1931 2,466,464 Moore Apr. 5, 1949 2,509,441 MacAllan May 30, 1950 2,560,756 Bullons July 17, 1951 2,599,667 Tall June 10, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 265,546 Switzerland Dec. 15, 1949 643,930 Great Britain Sept. 27, 1950 OTHER REFERENCES K 8: E Catalogue, 38th Edition, Hoboken, N. 1., 1938, pp. 231-237. 

